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Airlines on both sides of the Atlantic are preparing for their busiest holiday season, when tens of millions of passengers take to the skies.
In the United Kingdom, airlines will fly 6.1 million seats between December 20 and January 2, a 5 percent increase from the previous record set in 2019, according to aviation data company Cirium.
The most popular international destinations for departures from the UK are Amsterdam, Dublin, Geneva, Paris and Tenerife.
Across the Atlantic, a record 54 million passengers are forecast to fly on US airlines between December 19 and January 6, according to trade group Airlines for America (A4A).
US airlines offer 140,000 more seats each day than during the 2023 holiday period, A4A added. Orlando, Las Vegas, Cancun, Fort Lauderdale and Honolulu are among the popular destinations.
The record-breaking Christmas is the final chapter of a busy year for airlines in the UK and US, and reflects the strong and sustained demand for travel since the pandemic ended.
Airline bosses believe consumers are prioritizing holidays and travel over other discretionary spending, even after several years of high inflation.
Still, ticket prices have fallen in many leading markets in 2024, with some airlines, including Ryanair, Europe’s largest, reporting a profit drop during the summer.
In the UK, passengers are also increasingly choosing to travel on Christmas Day itself.
More than 800 flights are scheduled to leave UK airports on Christmas Day this year, a fifth more than in 2019 and 47 per cent more than a decade ago.
The low-cost airline easyJet and London heathrow airport are among the major companies forecasting their busiest winter holiday season.
Sophie Dekkers, easyJet’s chief commercial officer, said the airline will carry 4.1 million customers across its European network during the peak Christmas and New Year period, with its busiest day expected to be December 27. .
Paris, Geneva and Tenerife are among easyJet’s most popular destinations.
“The winter holidays are an important time of year to travel for millions of people,” he said.
Heathrow airport executives hope there will be no further disruption to flights after more than 100 were canceled over the weekend due to high winds.
“Our goal remains to ensure smooth and joyful journeys, whether it’s helping passengers get away at Christmas to reunite with their loved ones or ensuring cargo reaches its destination on time,” said Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye. , in a statement issued before the weekend disruption.
In the United States, United Airlines expects passenger numbers to increase 12 percent from last year to 9.9 million, with its busiest days including Friday, December 27, and Saturday, December 28.
The strong end to the year comes as global airlines prepare for a record year in 2025.
Passenger numbers are expected to reach 5.2 billion in 2025, an increase of almost 7 percent compared to 2024, and the first time passenger numbers will surpass the 5 billion mark, according to a global lobby group. . International Air Transport Association saying.
The figure represents slower growth than the 10.7 per cent achieved this year, and Iata CEO Willie Walsh said the figures represented a “return to more normal growth levels following the extraordinary recovery from the pandemic”.
